Luke 11:37-44

content/bible_journal/luke_11:37-44.md

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+title = "Luke 11:37–44"
+date = "2022-12-13"
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+
+### [Read the passage.](https://biblia.com/bible/esv/Lk11.37-44)
+
+While Jesus was talking about giving light to your whole body through your
+eyes, He gets a chance to show how this works out practically in a person's
+life. A Pharisee asks Him to dine, and there are other guests too, as we shall
+see. Now, Jesus doesn't wash His hands before dinner, and this astonishes the
+Pharisee, but not because Jesus's hands were dirty. At least, they didn't
+appear dirty, but the Pharisees ritually wash to remove the uncleanness they
+may have gotten from touching something unclean, so that the food won't become
+unclean, so their insides won't become unclean.
+
+Jesus lambastes them by letting know that their insides are already unclean.
+They have wicked, greedy hearts, even though their outward actions appear holy.
+They tithe even the tiny herbs from their gardens in accordance with the Law of
+Moses, but they corrupt justice and don't love God. Instead they live for the
+praise of man and the comforts of this life. He compares them to unmarked
+graves, which make people unclean when they walk over them, even without
+knowing it.
+
+The Pharisees had missed the whole point of the Law. Tithing isn't meant to be
+a bean-counting exercise, to make sure you are giving precisely 10 percent to
+God. It's about thanking God for giving you what you do have, providing for the
+needs of the priests who spent their time serving God and the people instead of
+farming, and trusting God to provide enough for you and your family even after
+you have given some away. The ritual purity laws were to show that God is holy
+and that we can't help but be defiled. The civil laws were to protect the weak
+from the wickedness of the strong, and promote justice and mercy among all the
+people. The Pharisees made the means into an end, and neglected the end in
+their own lives.
+
+* * *
+
+Reveal the wickedness in our own hearts where we do not follow Your laws, and
+help us repent and turn back to You.